It’s only a matter of time before the players turn on De Smith. It’s really their own fault, just listen to that gasbag for one press conference and it tells you all you need to know. I’d have been a scab from the start if I were a player. Where’s the mandatory PFT “Wow.” ??

And the NHL/NBAplayoffs will continue with some compelling games, MLB will keep playing, NASCAR will keep racing and Arena Football teams will keep putting up incredible scores. Tons of options people, and NCAA will be right there when we get the itch for football.

To prevail on the stay pending appeal, the NFL had to demonstrate that there was, among other things, “a strong showing of likely success on the merits.” That finding doesn’t bode well for the players when the Eighth Circuit finally rules on the league’s request to overturn Judge Nelson’s order to lift the lockout. Is this the “ace in the hole” the players had in mind with their litigation strategy?

If Judge Nelson’s order is eventually overturned, DeMaurice Smith will have to come back to the mediation table with his hat in hand, ready to make a meaningful concession. The late Gene Upshaw made such a concession via the salary cap. He understood that compromise is the quickest way to get a new CBA that will ensure years of NFL labor peace, which is what NFL fans want most. “Uptown Gene” gave us two decades of labor peace. “De” Smith has given us four words: “We are at war!”

Can’t Kraft, Mara, Rooney, and some of the other sane owners stage a coup and stop this crazy thing while there’s still time?

And for all the “fans” who keep posting that we haven’t lost anything yet … if you don’t understand or appreciate the free-agent period, you’re not big enough fans to be posting here. Football is a strategic game. Teams can’t plan strategies if they don’t know what personnel to plan around.

Love it. Another step towards ensuring that the NFL will survice in its current model. I also get a mild thrill knowing that it’s another legal smackdown for Debag Smith. i really can’t stand that guy and am happy to see him getting torched in court since this is the path he chose to take.

I don’t work for the NFL – I work for The Man, to feed my wife, my dog and myself. I’m a bartender and lifelong Raider Fan – the kind that can put full sentences together. (The kind that don’t become Charger fans or… fans of whomever else might be winning that week.)

I totally side with the owners. Not because I love the owners – I side with them because it’s logical. If I owned my bar, I would tell any prospective bartender who didn’t like his pay – or cutbacks in schedule – that he/she was one craigslist ad away from being replaced. This is the world WE THE FANS KNOW.
If there is any justice in this goofy place, THE PLAYERS WILL KNOW IT SOON ENOUGH.

I say:
MAKE ‘EM ALL PAY – All the frustration of being a cash strapped fan should finally come to a head, right here and now.
We the fans should take a cue from the world outside and start a full on revolution by way of Twitter, facebook, carrier pigeons… whatever. I say: Boycott the first game of the season, on every level. No NFL Network. No games. No jerseys. No support of sponsors. ‘EFF ‘EM.

And for the media teet-hangers who hover around the NFL like beggars: Imagine the human interest angle… “NFL FIRES ALL PLAYERS. KEEPS JERSEYS, TEAM NAMES – BUILDS ROSTERS FROM FAN BASES.”

Lets hope the owners act like men with an eye for the future and attempt to negotiate a fair deal that will ensure LONG TERM viability and growth of the league. If they go into any negotiations looking to chop the player’s head off because they think they have them over a barrel I will be officially done with the NFL.

Of course, that assumes the players are even willing to negotiate until Brady(poor poor Tommy Brady) is settled. Maybe we should expect to settle in for months more of the same BS which should pretty much guarantee the two sides will likely never see that exponential growth they are arguing over.

The question is will we be waiting till June 3rd for a significant ruling by the courts or do the players begin their dissent from within? I say the dissent begins because the players blindly followed their leader and now the consequences are starting to come.

The players aren’t the one’s who opted out of the deal. They also aren’t the ones stating they need more money without proving it by opening the books. They negotiated the previous deal, the owner’s took it as a “swan song” for Paul Tagliabue to have never dealt with labor disputes. It’s the owner’s fault for signing this deal and now they are the ones who have to pay for it. That’s why Mike Brown and Ralph Wilson voted no. Maybe if the owner’s weren’t so sentimental in letting Paul go into the sunset, they wouldn’t have been stuck with the crappy deal. I don’t blame the players for not wanting to give that back, because they know they will never get it back if they give it up again.

The players are the ones who have done everything in good faith. They are being asked to give back when all owners are making money and their franchises are worth more and more.
Nobody in their right mine can be for the owners.

For all those who just want football, this is far better than a no rules approach that results in a couple teams landing 90% of available top tier talent, which cannot be undone later by any stretch of the imagination.

Bush destroyed our economy and now we paying for his mistakes again. Media should be following the money of these owners and see their political contributions. Players case is rock solid. There is something rotten in America.

Not sure how anyone could say the players are asking for everything, when they’d have been happy to just re-sign the old agreement for another 5 years… it’s the owners who are asking for more, the players are happy with what they have now. Of course, franchises throughout the league are in terrible financial shape and the owners need a better deal, they’re just not making any money, right? Right…

You will be waiting a lot longer then another 3 weeks. That is the Date for a Hearing, by the time that plays out and the Court makes a decision you will be waiting at least 6 weeks maybe longer. Way to go owners, bring these Greedy Players to their Knees.

Anger is what keeps me coming back for all these updates and what not. Im slowly becoming numb to all of this BS, and that most def. won’t entice me to view any NFL related sites or programming. My NFL following has officially begun to diminish!

Pat Bowlen has already told we Broncos fans I’m sorry for the lockout. Apology accepted Mr. Bowlen, it’s not your fault DeMoron isn’t 1/50th of the negotiator Gene Upshaw was. Player schills need to realize the game continues on. In my 28 years on planet Earth (almost 29), I’ve seen hundreds, if not thousands, of Denver Broncos players. The cycle goes on and owners need to be in charge. You CANNOT have inmates run the asylum. The NBA is excelling in spite of itself because my Dallas Mavericks beat the refs (and Commissioner Stern’s will) to advance to the Western Conference Finals. MLB will continue to plummet as we see the Red Sox and Yankees/Phillies, etc. as the only teams with a chance. Now players, I adjure you GET YOUR $&^$% rear ends back to the table and NEGOTIATE NEGOTIATE NEGOTIATE. Do not relent until a new CBA is completed.

Cue the players comments on here about cheating judges and more lawsuits and un-american and all that.
It is nice. IMAO, to see the system working as it is supposed to work, even though it may not please a tiny minority of people.

I want one side to get the leverage to hold the other side over the barrel. That is when you’ll see action. Maybe this June ruling will do that one way or the other. I honestly don’t care. I just want to watch the Lions this fall.

I could care less whether the billionaires or millioniares win, they are all greedy bastards toying with America’s game, a pastime that the average American uses to escape from the mundane responsibilities of working and raising a family with limited income and resources without gratitude from anyone. They say its just a game, but its how many American men spend the little leisure time they have before they keel over and die from a heart attacks and strokes brought on by too much stress and too little comfort in a otherwise unfufilling life. Its a stress reliever, but its just a game…, right?

I sit just me, or does De Smith look like a PIMP every time he’s going to one of these meetings? He’s got the hat, a cane, and a nice pinstripe suit. All the dude needs is a gold Grille set of teeth and a Krunk-Juice Cup and he’s all set.

He has no interest in the players, only making a name for himself. He’s doing a good job at making a bad name for both.

Rhode Island, Uptown Gene was better known as The Puppet, and that wasn’t for nothing…

——————-

And he got the players what everyone recognizes as a great deal in 2006. Not bad for a puppet.

FACT: D. Smith walked out of CBA talks, decertified the union, had certain players file suit, did not attend at least one court ordered mediation session, and doesn’t encourage any players to attend the current mediation.

Any fans, players, or PFT employees that really want football need to tell D. Smith to get his butt into negotiations.

Bush destroyed our economy and now we paying for his mistakes again. Media should be following the money of these owners and see their political contributions. Players case is rock solid. There is something rotten in America.

it was known when the deal was signed that the owners would opt out. Brown and Wilson wouldnt vote yes to spend 50 cents on a candy bar.
Tagliabue’s exit was the absolute worst timing. The players wouldnt extend the current deal so the owners in good faith gave to much. now DeDumbass steps in and they wont bargin in good faith.
truth of it all is that tagliabue started this mess and desmith made it worse. at least the owners have put forth deals while the NFLPA wont and put all their chips on the courts solving it for them cause they dont have a leg to stand on

pdxpanther says:May 16, 2011 6:43 PM

theembalmed

The players aren’t the one’s who opted out of the deal. They also aren’t the ones stating they need more money without proving it by opening the books. They negotiated the previous deal, the owner’s took it as a “swan song” for Paul Tagliabue to have never dealt with labor disputes. It’s the owner’s fault for signing this deal and now they are the ones who have to pay for it. That’s why Mike Brown and Ralph Wilson voted no. Maybe if the owner’s weren’t so sentimental in letting Paul go into the sunset, they wouldn’t have been stuck with the crappy deal. I don’t blame the players for not wanting to give that back, because they know they will never get it back if they give it up again.

And for all the “fans” who keep posting that we haven’t lost anything yet … if you don’t understand or appreciate the free-agent period, you’re not big enough fans to be posting here. Football is a strategic game. Teams can’t plan strategies if they don’t know what personnel to plan around.
=========================

There is a difference between understanding and appreciating free agency and feeling like you have some God-given right to follow it and to have it happen at the exact time of year you expect it to.

And you haven’t been deprived of it anyway. It will occur when the dispute is settled, whenever that is.

And who died and made you arbiter of how big of an NFL fan you need to be to post here?

I think we all understand that football is a strategic game. God, how condescending.

I guess that the more level headed of us and are trying to detach emotion from logic realize that free agency has to occur at some point and that the abbreviated off season will, if anything, add to the pace and urgency of the strategic maneuvering that is such a part of the game.

This is nothing more than the culmination of a long-brewing war between owners who want a no-rules draft-free NFL where players go to the highest bidder and they don’t have to share their revenues with small-market teams … and owners who respect the antitrust exemptions and revenue-sharing structure that allowed the league to reach its current uber profitablility. The players have never been more than pawns in this Battle of the Titans (and I don’t mean Tennessee).

I’m just hoping the more sensible–and less selfish–owners can talk down the Midas wannabes who don’t mind destroying the league to get their gold.

This is a good day; seeing that the court has allowed the stay and tipped their hand that maybe the lesser court extended themselves, it is for all practical purposes saying that the decertification is a sham, and that the ‘trade association’ will have to reconsitute and become the NFLPA II. With a union, they can then negotiate tete a tete, without any leeches, err lawyers calling the shots. No more lawsuits, no more litigation, etc.

I recall someone making a comment that D. Smith wanted a fight, to push up his political image, etc. etc. and that he wasn’t really interested in negotiating, but that he wanted to litigate. DeMoronice wanted a fight, started a fight, and now he’s been dealt a death knell. As a lawyer, he wanted to pursue litigation and this has pretty much backfired; I don’t see him staying much longer as president of the Player’s Union – the league has them over a barrel. If the NFLPA just wants to procrastinate and behave like a sultry child, the owners can concoct up a one sided agreement and stuff it down their throats as their ‘last best offer’. The owners had to lock out to avoid the players instilling a myriad of anti-trust lawsuits due to them operating with a set of across the board rules with a non union environment; now this pantomime is over and hopefully the whole sorry episode will be over in a few weeks.

Why, yes, I could be more condescending, but then I’d be you–the guy who constantly makes himself an arbiter of what people post on PFT. Now what is your name again? Oh yes … realitypolice, the guy who tells the rest of us how it is. Thank you, Mr. Pot.

You’ve posted many times how silly fans are to worry because you’ve got your fingers on the pulse of all this and know just when it will end and in the meantime are having a high old time enjoying the impasse. Bully for you. I don’t share your views or those of other fans who don’t pay attention to off-season activities–or want them “abbreviated.” And I’m as entitled to post my opinion as you are, Mr. Pot.

I’m also sure the more level-headed among us understand that the free-agent period isn’t just about what we get to watch or when. It’s also about players and their families relocating. Or perhaps that’s just understood by those of us who don’t think–or post–by trying to prove we have more testosterone than the girl.

Now if you have anything else to say, just imagine whispering it as you kiss my lovely lil Southern backside. Have a nice night. 🙂